Divine Essence

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

THE BIBLE DOES NOT SEEK TO PROVE the existence of God; it assumes it to be true. Only the fool denies His existence (Ps. 14:1). Both the Scriptures and the operational divine laws’ attest to the fact of a Supreme Being. Similarly, the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of divine essence are well-defined throughout the Word of God. Although the word Trinity itself is not found in Scripture, it best expresses the threefold personality of God. Divine essence is the description of the characteristics which belong to all three members of the Godhead.

God is declared in many passages to be one God (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 6:4; 1 Tim. 2:5-6); but the Bible no less clearly reveals that there are three to whom all the attributes of divine essence are ascribed: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Isa. 48:16; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2). To deny the existence of the three members of the Trinity is to deny the credibility of Scripture itself. However, it is not my purpose to embark upon any lengthy arguments to establish proof of this doctrine, but to present the facts in as simple a manner as possible.

Before we can begin, we must first of all recognize that man has certain limitations in dealing with the subject of God or in

perceiving spiritual phenomena. There are only three systems of human perception: rationalism, empiricism, and faith. Everything you have ever learned has been through one of these three systems or a combination of them. Rationalism simply means that the mind is the criterion for reality. This is perception through reason. Empiricism brings the sensory system into the picture — perception through observation and experimentation. This is the scientific method. Reality in empiricism is what you smell, see, hear, taste, or feel.

Faith is the means of perception which accepts an established criterion as the basis of reality; hence, it is tantamount to confidence or belief in the authority and veracity of another. Faith is the only system of perception common to all members of the human race, as well as the only non-meritorious system; therefore, it is the sole means of perceiving spiritual phenomena (2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:1). To try to comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of divine essence by either rationalism or empiricism would inevitably result in rejection. They must be accepted on the authority of the Word of God.

THE ONENESS OF GOD

Any discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity must include three concepts: the oneness of God, the three modes of being of the one and only God, and the equality of each of the Three. When the Bible speaks of the oneness of God. it is in no way contradictory to the concept of the Trinity. The oneness of God refers to His essence (Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:20; Col. 2:9). God is one in essence. God has one essence. This means that all the characteristics of divine essence are resident in each member of the Godhead. Sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, immutability, and veracity are possessed equally by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Their essence They are absolutely the same. However, this is the only way in which God is one. Since each person in the Trinity possesses identical essence, these characteristics are what unite the Three as one God.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF DIVINE ESSENCE

SOVEREIGNTY

God is, first of all, sovereign. That is, God has supreme volition. His volition has always existed, and there is no higher volition in the universe. Sovereign God is the Supreme Being of the universe: “Know therefore . . . the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other” (Deut. 4:39; cf. 1 Sam. 2:6-8; 1 Chron. 29:11; 2 Chron. 20:6; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 45:5-6; Acts 17:24).

He is also said to be the king of heaven and earth (Ps. 47:2; 93:1; Matt. 6:13; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 4:2-3); eternal (Ps. 93:2);

infinite (Ps. 8:1; Acts 5:39; Heb. 6:13); and self-determining (Job 9:12; Ps. 115:3; 135:6; Prov. 21:1; Dan. 4:35). The Scripture states certain expressions of divine volition: “ .. . My purpose will be established. And I will accomplish all My good pleasure” (Isa. 46:10; cf. Eph. 1:5). God’s pleasure resulted in a plan for humanity (Ps. 24; John 3:16; Heb. 6:17).

In harmony with His sovereign decree that man be allowed freedom of choice, God will never use His absolute will to coerce the volition which He gave man (John 7:17). God honors your decisions, whether they are for or against Him. As far as the believer is concerned, God has a plan for your life to take in Bible doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16) under the provisions of grace by means of the communication of doctrine by the pastor-teacher, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and positive volition transferring that doctrine to the human spirit and to the right lobe of the mentality. You can choose to accept His will and move on into a fantastic “supergrace” life in which God pours out His blessings (James 4:6), or you can choose to go against that will and wind up under divine discipline (Heb. 12:6)

As far as the unbeliever is concerned, God’s will is that all should be saved (2 Pet. 3:9; Rev. 22:17). Those who accept His will for salvation and believe in Jesus Christ receive everlasting life; those who reject Him, everlasting condemnation.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

RIGHTEOUSNESS

God is absolute righteousness or holiness: “There is no one holy like the Lord . . .” (1 Sam. 2:2; cf. Lev. 19:2b, Ps. 22:3; 47:8; 111:9; John 17:11; Rev. 3:7; 6:10). God is not simply righteous by comparison with someone else; His righteousness is independent and incomparable. We call some people “good” and some people “bad.” Yet when we get to know people, we must admit that the “bad people” have some good in them, and the “good people” have some bad in them. What, then, is our criterion? It is a matter of relativity or comparison (2 Cor. 10:12). At best, man’s righteousness is only relative.

Now immediately this poses a problem for man as far as having fellowship with God is concerned. +R (absolute righteousness) cannot have fellowship with -R (relative righteousness). If we are to have any relationship with God — be it temporal or eternal — we must have +R. God took cognizance of this barrier in eternity past and made provision for it through the

cross:

He [the Father] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:21)

Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction. (Rom. 3:22)

God’s righteousness is free from sin (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 1:5). I don’t know what your concept of sin is — perhaps you have been hit all your life with “wine, women, and song” as the epitome of sin. But the sins listed in the Bible are far more comprehensive (Prov. 6:16-19). Here is one description of sin: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The “glory of God” is the essence or perfect character of God. We do not measure up to His perfect righteousness; yet we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

Being “justified” means that we receive +R freely. We do not work for it; we do not earn it or deserve it. It is credited to our account when we believe in Jesus Christ and that’s grace, It is free to us; but like most things which are free, someone pays for them. In this case, Jesus Christ “picked up the tab” at the cross. He purchased us out of the slave market of sin.

Under the righteousness concept, God is also said to be “good” (Ps. 25:8; 34:8; 119:68; Luke 18:19). His character and His person are perfect (Dent. 32:4b Ps. 11:7; 97:6; 111:3; 119:137a; Jer. 23:6; Rom. 1:17; 10:3; 1 John 2:29). It is impossible to have perfect righteousness without having perfect character and a perfect personality. Many of you think that scintillation and animation are the keys to personality. But the key to personality is righteousness. People are being hired in business today on the basis of their personality rather than on the basis of righteousness. This results in crooked business practices and unreliable personnel. Righteousness is the key to character; but in our day righteousness is ridiculed. Only tenacious righteousness keeps young people today from succumbing to the pressures of experimenting with drugs, sex, alcohol, etc.

Now I am not talking about self-righteousness. God’s perfect righteousness rejects human standards of self-righteousness (Isa. 64:6). Many people find great stimulation in looking down their noses at others who appear to be worse than themselves. God is not fooled by any such phony righteousness. True righteousness does not tie you up in knots. It is a relaxed and wonderful state.

God is also righteous in His attitudes and actions (Dent. 32:4a; 2 Sam. 22:31a; Ps. 119:137b; 145:17; Dan. 9:14; Rev. 19:2, 11). In the Revelation passages, Jesus Christ in righteousness makes war! We will have the privilege of watching Him break all records for defeating the enemy. Until then, the believer can rely fully on the knowledge that whatever befalls him is consistent with God’s righteous attitudes and actions on his behalf.

JUSTICE

God’s holiness includes His justice as well as His righteousness. As a part of His justice, God is fair. It is impossible for God to be unfair: “ . . . for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness, or partiality, or the taking of a bribe” (2 Chron. 19:7). God’s judgments are perfect; therefore, He is eliminated as a “patsy” for anyone or anything (Deut. 32:4; Job 37:23; Ps. 19:9; 50:6; 58:11; 89:14; Isa. 45:21; Jer. 50:7; Rom. 3:26; Heb. 10:30-31; 12:23).

God’s justice operates in the field of punitive activity. Under this concept, He is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11). God has two avenues by which He expresses His justice to believers: first, to mature believers in blessing; and second, to carnal or apostate believers through divine discipline (Heb. 12:6). Justice administers what righteousness demands.

Justice means that in vindicating any believer, God cannot compromise His attributes (Rom. 5). Were it not for the ministry of Jesus Christ on the cross, God would have to compromise His justice in order to save us. But through His vicarious, efficacious, spiritual death on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24), Jesus Christ received the guilt of the sinner upon Himself (Rom. 5:12; 6:23) and thus satisfied the justice of the Father. 0O God is now free to pardon and justify the sinner who accepts His saving grace (Rom. 3:21-28; 4:5). God is equally free to condemn to the lake of fire those who reject Christ as Savior (John 3:18). So the work of Christ on the cross not only released the justice of the Father for total expression in eternity, but also made it possible for the Father’s justice to remain intact in pouring out blessings to believers during their lives on earth and throughout eternity. Justice is the source of grace. Justice is the believer’s point of contact with the essence of God. Many people cannot conceive of God as any other than a God of love. But justice is as important and as observable as the other characteristics in His essence. Justice is manifest in the punitive measures to unbelievers, who have violated the divine laws of establishment, as well as to believers. Believers and unbelievers would do well to consider the warning of Hebrews 10:31: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

LOVE

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Much has been said about this characteristic of God, but little has been understood. To understand divine or even human love, we must know Bible doctrine. Since God is eternal and immutable, His love is unchanging and enduring and in the same quantity which He possessed from eternity. Both the quality and the quantity remain the same (Jer. 31:3).

The motive behind grace is love. But God’s love cannot come through the “grace pipe” to man until righteousness and justice have been satisfied. When Christ hung on the cross, He was perfect righteousness in His humanity. That canceled out righteousness as a barrier. When the Father judged Him for our sins, the barrier of justice was removed. Now love can flow through the grace pipe to man. But we meet God’s love only at the cross. To the person who believes in Christ, both love and

eternal life come through the grace pipe.

Those who appropriate the grace of God in salvation cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39). No matter how a believer fails, no matter what he does, God keeps on loving him, for God’s love depends on His character. This means that the Father has a love which is not in any way related to emotion. We are inclined to confuse emotion an mentality — especially when it comes to love. Yet emotion do not exist in any member of the Godhead, nor is it a part of the essence of God. Emotion is strictly an activity of the human soul that helps us to appreciate what we have in the mentality of the soul. All the functions of life are centered in some facet of the mentality, and emotion is designed to respond to its various areas — to the frame of reference, to the memory center, vocabulary and categories, and to norms and standards. A correctly functioning emotion mirrors what you have in the mentality of your soul. It is, therefore, difficult for us to realize that God neither needs nor possesses emotion.

We need emotion as a prop for our mentality, and when properly used, it can become a cushion for mental trauma. Emotion under capacity for life and maximum intake of Bible doctrine is a wonderful thing. It stimulates love. But God’s love is totally independent of emotion. Occasionally a verb with an emotional connotation is used in connection with God’s love; but this is simply an anthropopathism ascribing to God a human characteristic to express a divine attitude. It is not a true characteristic of God’s essence.

God’s love is infinitely superior to any human type of love because it needs no props. For example, one of the props in human love is response. Very few people have the ability to love someone consistently when there is no positive response to their love. Nothing cools off love like sexual unfaithfulness, antagonism, or indifference. These arouse emotional reaction, but not response. Every carnal or apostate believer is unfaithful and antagonistic to God. Yet God keeps right on loving him because every believer possesses +R which God always loves!

Furthermore, God’s love has no strings attached to it never the concept of “if you’ll be nice to me, I’ll be nice to you.” His love is so phenomenal that He can love the believer who never does one thing for Him in his entire Christian life just as much as He loves the believer who serves Him faithfully. God’s love is designed so that we as believers can learn to appreciate it and respond to it. But again, the capacity for loving God is not based on emotion, props, or strings. It is related to doctrine. People who merely get sentimental over God don’t even know Him! If we ever come to the place where “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), that love must be divorced from all human ability, human props, strings, and emotion.

God expressed His grace: “He . . . did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). Salvation so freely offered should elicit a response on the part of humanity. The believer must come to know Him (Phil. 3:10) through doctrine. You cannot love someone you do not know. The unbeliever has the responsibility of receiving blessings from God through salvation. Today God is holding back His judgment to give believers the opportunity to believe in His Son (2 Pet. 3:9).

ETERNAL LIFE

God is absolute existence (Ex. 3:14). There never was a time when God did not exist. God has neither beginning nor ending; He existed in eternity past, and He will exist forever. “Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Ps. 90:2; cf. Gen. 1:1a; Deut. 32:40; Job 36:26; Ps. 9:7; 102:27; 135:13; Isa. 43:13a Lam. 5:19; Hab. 3:6).

Technically speaking, there is a difference between “eternal life” which God possesses and “everlasting life” which, according to God’s plan, members of the human race can possess (John 3:16). Everlasting life has a beginning but no ending. Eternal life has no beginning and no ending. For both the believer and the unbeliever eternity is everlasting; but the unbeliever who fails to make His decision for Jesus Christ in time will suffer everlasting punishment and regret (Matt. 24:51; 25:46<a). The believer has the assurance of everlasting life and joy in the presence of the eternal God (Matt. 25:46b; John 8:51) and can rest in the knowledge that in this life “the eternal God is a dwelling place” (Deut. 33:27).

OMNISCIENCE

This English word is derived from two Latin words: omnis, meaning “all,” and sciens, which means “knowing” — “all-knowing.” God knows all things; He is all-knowledge: “ . . . for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with Him actions are weighed” (1 Sam. 2:3). “Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, The wonders of one perfect in knowledge?” (Job 37:16; cf. Job 26:6; 31:4; 34:21; 42:2b; Ps. 139:1-6, 12; 147:4; Jer. 16:17; Ezek. 11:5; Matt. 10:29-30; Heb. 4:13).

God’s knowledge is not related to or limited by time. Our knowledge is based upon time. We often say that “hindsight is clearer than foresight.” We can go back and evaluate things that have happened in the past, see our failures and, hopefully, learn from them. We can speculate about the future and even make some pretty accurate guesses. But none of us knows exactly what will happen tomorrow. We are slaves to time, and we are limited by time: God’s knowledge is superimposed over time.

We continue to learn as long as we live on this earth. God has never had to learn anything. He has always known everything every thought, every motive, every event, and every action of every person in the world billions of years before they ever came on the scene. Darkness hides nothing from God (Ps. 139:12). He knows “the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46:10; cf. Isa. 41:26; 42:9; 43:9; Acts 2:23; 15:18). Because He is omniscient, He knows what is best for those who trust in Him (Nahum 1:7). We may not understand the adversities and sufferings which come into our lives; yet when we view them in retrospect, it becomes apparent that God knew all along what He was doing (John 13:7).

No one in the human race can even begin to approach the infinite wisdom and understanding of God: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33; cf. 1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 44:21; 147:5b; Prov. 3:19; 5:21; 17:3; Jer. 17:10; 51:15; Matt. 6:8; Rom. 8:27; 1 John 3:20). Yet it is God’s intention that every believer come to understand everything in the Bible — in time. Anything which God intended to remain inscrutable to our finite minds was not included in the canon of Scripture (Dent. 29:29). Certainly, you will not grasp the doctrinal content of the Bible all at once, for knowledge is built on knowledge; but if you stay with it, it can be done — and should be done! Remember, every book in the Bible was written by a human author who understood what he was recording.

OMNIPRESENCE

God is ever-present: “ ‘Can a man hide himself in hiding places, So I do not see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’” (Jer. 23:24). God is not limited by time or space. He is both immanent (John 14:23) and transcendent (Acts 17:24). This explains such phrases as “the highest heaven cannot contain Thee” (1 Kings 8:27), and “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isa. 66:1). In other words, He is in both the heavens and the earth simultaneously (Deut. 4:39). This is one of the factors that made it impossible for Jesus Christ to go to the cross as God. Deity cannot reduce itself to one place; therefore, He had to become true humanity. When Jesus Christ went to the cross. He did not bear our sins in His divine essence but in His own body (1 Pet. 2:24).

It should be a sobering thought for the unbeliever to realize that he cannot escape the presence of God (Ps. 139:7; Prov.

15:3) but comforting for believers to know that He will never leave them nor forsake them (Heb. 13:5; cf. Ps. 23:6; 139:8-10).

OMNIPOTENCE

God is all-powerful, limitless in ability: “Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength . . .” (Ps. 147:5; cf. Gen. 17:1; 18:14; Ps. 24:8; 93:1; Isa. 40:26; 50:2; Jer. 27:5; 32:19; Matt. 19:26). God has a power which, like His love, is totally devoid of human props. We usually associate power with the physical body; but God does not need muscles He doesn’t even have a body!

God is also limitless in His authority. By His power He rules and upholds all things (1 Chron. 29:11-12; Ps. 33:9; 66:7a; Rom. 13:1; Heb. 1:3). The only limit to God’s power is negative volition on the part of angels and mankind. God’s power and authority are manifested in many ways. The creation of the universe and the restoration of the earth IS are among the greatest demonstrations of His power (Gen. 1; Jer. 32:17). Others include His works in regard to Israel, such as the dividing of the Red Sea (Ps. 74:13) and the conquering of their enemies (Joshua; Judges; 2 Chron. 25:8).

God is mighty to save (Neh. 1:10; Heb. 7:25); and to those who believe in Christ He makes known “what is the surpassing greatness of His power. . . in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Eph. 1:19). He is mighty to protect the believer (1 Pet. 1:5). Nothing and no one — not even Satan himself — can remove us from this earth, with the exception of our own volition (suicide), until it is the Lord’s time for us to go home. The Lord God omnipotent says to all believers, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). When we learn to apply this, we will respond with Job, “I know that Thou canst do all things . . ."(Job 42:2), and we will relax in the knowledge that “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

IMMUTABILITY

God is perfect and absolute stability: “ .. . the Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired . . .” (Isa. 40:28). He cannot change (Ps. 102:26-27; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 1:12). This shows us something of God’s thinking in eternity past when He contemplated man’s sin and its solution. Since righteousness cannot have anything to do with a sinner and justice can only condemn sin, God could not love sinful man without compromising His righteousness and justice. Eternal life cannot die in behalf of man, omnipresence cannot reduce itself to one point (the cross), and immutability cannot change. But grace found a way to save us through God becoming man. As true humanity, Jesus Christ could pay the penalty of sin by being judged for the sins of the world. God the Father was satisfied with the work of Christ on our behalf so that now He does not compromise any of His essence in loving us. Immutability ties it all together. Because of

His immutability His love is unchangeable; because of His eternal life His love is undying and enduring.

God’s Word is unchangeable (Ps. 119:89; 148:6; Isa. 40:8; 1 Pet. 1:25), and His works are unchanging (Eccl. 3:14). God gives us two immutable things the person of Jesus Christ and Bible doctrine (Heb. 6:18). Jesus Christ is immutable and unchanging, “the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Heb. 13:8) and the Bible is “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). He gives us something of Himself when He gives us doctrine. When we have doctrine in the soul, we have the only stabilizer in life. There is nothing in you or in me that is stable. We just put together a little “house of cards,” and anyone or anything can blow the whole thing away. We are all inconsistent. We build up our consistencies, shut out our inconsistencies, and call ourselves stable. But in the light of God’s perfect stability, we are not stable at all!

God’s faithfulness stems from His immutability (Lam. 3:22-23). The Bible states many ways in which God is faithful to us. First, God is faithful in keeping His promises (Num. 23:19; 1 Kings 8:56; 2 Cor. 1:20; Titus 1:2; Heb. 10:23; 11:11). We have all been disappointed by broken promises; we have all made promises we have not kept. This is human nature. But “God is not a man, that He should lie!”

Second, God is faithful to forgive (1 John 19). He does not forgive because we feel sorry for our sins or promise never to do them again; He forgives because Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins. Third, He is faithful in keeping us saved (2 Tim. 2:12-13). Even though we might say after we are saved, “I no longer believe in Christ,” God is still faithful to us. There is nothing we can say or do to lose our salvation once we have believed in Jesus Christ. God never takes back the forty things He gives us at salvation. Since God did the saving, He does the keeping. Had we helped God in any way, we would be justified in thinking we could lose our salvation by something we might do or not do. But God has done all the work; we simply receive what He has done.

Fourth, God is faithful to deliver us from and in pressure or testing (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 4:19). Fifth, He is faithful in stabilizing and protecting the believer (2 Thess. 3:3). God’s immutability is our anchor in these unstable times. Sixth, He is faithful in the administration of His plan (1 Cor. 1:9). Seventh, He is faithful in His provision (1 Thess. 5:24).

VERACITY

Veracity means that God is absolute truth, which is an expression of His righteousness: “ .. . A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). If God is to be faithful to us, He must level with us. We must have all the facts concerning Himself as well as ourselves. Therefore, His veracity is manifested in His ways (Ps. 25:10; 86:15; Rev. 15:3), His works (Ps. 33:4; 111:7-8; Dan. 4:37), and in His Word (2 Sam. 7:28; 1 Kings 17:24; Ps. 19:9; 119:142, 151; 138:2; John 17:17; 2 Cor. 6:7; Eph. 1:13).

The sum total of divine veracity to the human race is bound up in the canon of Scripture. Before the Bible was completed, God’s veracity was manifested in various ways: He spoke verbally (Gen. 17:1-2; Heb. 6:17-18); He sent angels to teach; He used prophets, priests, and other communicators. But now that the canon of Scripture is completed, God speaks only through His Word.

DIVINE ESSENCE IN THE PERSONS OF THE GODHEAD

All the attributes of divine essence are ascribed to each person of the Godhead (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29).

Sovereignty. The Father is said to work “all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11; cf. Ps. 40:8; Matt. 6:10; Heb. 10:7, 9). Jesus said, “ .. . even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21). In Revelation 19:16, Jesus Christ is “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” The Holy Spirit sovereignly divides “to each one (gifts] individually just as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11; cf. Heb. 2:4).

Righteousness. Jesus prayed, “0 righteous Father” (John 17:25). The Son is declared to be holy (Luke 1:35; Heb. 7:26),

and without sin (2 Cor. 5:21); and the very name of the Holy Spirit reveals this facet of His character.

Justice. “The Almighty we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power; And He will not do violence to justice . . .” (Job 37:23; cf. 8:3). Jesus Christ is described in Acts 3:14 as “the Holy and Righteous One”; all judgment is committed unto the Son (John 5:22), who judges in righteousness (Rev. 19:11). Nehemiah said of the Holy Spirit, “Thou didst give Thy good Spirit to instruct them. . .” (Neh. 9:20).

Love. The Father proved His love for His own holiness by sending His Son (John 3:16; 9:4); only through His plan of grace can divine love ever be extended to believers who possess divine righteousness as of faith in Christ (1 John 2:15; 3:1; 4:19). The Son’s love is manifested in the same way through the cross (Eph. 5:25; 1 John 3:16); and the Holy Spirit’s love is demonstrated in revealing salvation (John 16:7-11) and Bible doctrine (1 Cor. 2:10).

Eternal Life. Jesus declared in John 5:26: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” Of the Son it was predicted: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” (Micah 5:2; cf. John 1:1-2; 1 John 5:11; Rev. 1:8, 17). The Spirit is said to be eternal in Isaiah 48:16.

Omniscience. The Father: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13; cf. Matt. 11:27; 1 Pet. 1:2). The Son: “Jesus therefore, knowing all the things . . .” (John 18:4; cf. Matt. 9:4; John 2:25; 1 Cor. 4:5). The Holy Spirit: “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding. . . The spirit of knowledge..” (Isa. 11:2; cf. 1 Cor. 2:11).

Omnipresence. The Father: “ . . . the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him . . .” (2 Chron. 2:6). The Son: Jesus said, “...lo, I am with you always...” (Matt. 28:20; cf. Eph. 1:23). The Holy Spirit: “Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?” (Ps. 139:7).

Omnipotence. Of the Father’s omnipotence, Christ said, “Abba !Father! All things are possible for Thee...” (Mark 14:36; cf. 1 Pet. 1:5). Jesus Christ is said to uphold “all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3; cf. Matt. 24:30; 2 Cor. 12:9; Phil. 3:21; Rev. 1:8b; 19:6). Jesus Christ demonstrated His power at one time when He spoke a word and 185,000 Assyrian infantrymen dropped dead (Isa. 37:36). He demonstrated the physical strength of His humanity when He bodily threw the money changers out of the Temple (Matt. 21:12). He will again slay the enemy with the word of His mouth at the Second Advent (Rev. 19:15, 21). By the power of His Word (Luke 4:32) He healed the sick, forgave sin (Luke 5:24), raised the dead (Luke 7:22), and imparted eternal life (John 10:28). Of the Holy Spirit’s power we read, “In the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit . . .” (Rom. 15:19).

Immutability. The Father: “ .. . The unchangeableness of His purpose” (Heb. 6:17) “stands forever” (Ps. 33:11). The Son: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Heb. 13:8). The Holy Spirit: faithful to indwell the believer forever (John 14:16).

Veracity. At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus answered the unbelieving Jews, “ .. . I have not come of Myself, but He [the Father] who sent Me is true . . .” (John 7:28). Later, He prayed, “… that they may know Thee, the only true God. . .” (John 17:3). Of the Son, John said, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life”

(1 John 5:20; cf. John 1:14; 14:6; Rev. 19:11). It was John again who said, “… it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:7; cf. John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13).

THE MANIFESTATION OF DIVINE ESSENCE

All of the characteristics of God are not manifested at one time. This should not be difficult for you men to understand who have ever courted a young lady. Obviously, she puts her best foot forward, and you see only that portion of her essence she wants you to see. Suppose she has a grouchy disposition in the morning. She will not let you see that! By the time you see her in the evening, she is manifesting all sweetness. This simply illustrates the principle. God, of course, has only perfect characteristics.

Varied situations in life bring out certain of His characteristics. For example, God’s essence is manifested in salvation through His justice and eternal life. In judgment, we see God’s righteousness and justice, which make up His holiness. In God’s faithfulness, His immutability and veracity are revealed. In God’s plan, divine omniscience and sovereignty are preeminent. In God’s will, His sovereignty is specifically seen. And in His revelation, His veracity, love, and omniscience are foremost.

The essence of light illustrates this principle. All colors are present in a white ray of light, but they become visible only under certain conditions of refraction and reflection. When you see the color blue, the other colors in the light spectrum are absorbed while blue is reflected; but they are all still there. Just so, God always maintains His entire essence, no matter what you may see under various circumstances.

THE PLURALITY OF GOD

God exists in three separate and distinct personalities. Each Person is self-conscious and self-directing, yet He never acts independent of or in opposition to the others. The First Person is called the Father, the Second Person is called the Son, and the Third Person is called the Holy Spirit. This does not indicate inferiority or subordination. They are coequal and coeternal. Subordination comes into the plan of God only as it relates to man. The Son became obedient to the Father’s plan by going to the cross; the Holy Spirit became obedient to the Father’s plan by indwelling all believers in the Church Age.

Many of the expressions we use in discussing the concept of the Trinity are of necessity imperfect and inadequate to fully describe the unfathomable depths of God. Yet the terms “person” and “personality” more nearly express the truth concerning the Godhead than any other we might employ. The titles of the first two members of the Godhead are simply language of accommodation to indicate their function in relation to God’s plan for the human race. When the Bible distinguishes between members of the Godhead, it refers to the activity or operation of a specific Person. The First Person of the Trinity is called “Father” because we enter into a family relationship with Him through the new birth (John 3:3). “Son” expresses a relationship between the First and Second Persons in the plan of God. These functions establish personality, which is expressed in the manner in which the members of the Godhead address each other: I, Thou, He (Ps. 110:1; Isa. 41:4).

The doctrine of one God subsisting in three persons has bothered many people. In fact, countless heresies have sprung up as a result of the inability to understand or accept this biblical truth. Frankly, I think the inscrutability of the Trinity has been overstressed. There are many illustrations in nature of the concept of a “three in one.” For example, light is one in essence, but it has three properties: the first, actinic, which is neither seen nor felt, becomes a beautiful illustration of God the Father. The second, luminiferous, which is both seen and felt, is a perfect illustration of Jesus Christ. Third, calorific, not seen but felt, is an illustration of the Holy Spirit.

Now, even though you may not understand light, that does not hinder you from using it. Even so, a complete understanding of the Trinity is not necessary for entering the plan of God. Operation Grace means that God has provided the plan totally without help from man.

THE ETERNAL LIFE CONFERENCE

The source of grace is the Trinity. Billions and billions of years ago — sometime in eternity past — the three members in the Godhead held a “conference” at which they drew up the “divine decrees.” At this conference, a plan was formulated which centered in the person of Christ (Eph. 1:4-6; 1 John 3:23), but in which man would also have a very definite part through salvation. The plan was called Operation Grace, and each person in the Trinity was assigned a different function. The First Person became the author of the plan (Isa. 14:27; John 4:34; 5:17; 1 Cor. 8:6a; Eph. 3:11; James 1:18); the Second Person agreed to execute the first phase of the plan (John 4:34; 5:17; 17:4; Rom. 5:6-8; Heb. 10:7); the Third Person would reveal the plan to man (John 16:7-11).

The plan included giving man free will; but in Their omniscience, the Trinity knew exactly how man would operate. They knew he would disobey God. They nevertheless desired to bless him, and They wanted to share with him the kind of life They had eternal life. Entrance into the plan is based on the principle of grace under which the sovereignty of God and the free will of man meet at the cross. Under grace, all the work is accomplished by God, while man gains and enjoys the benefits

apart from his own merit or ability.

There are four categories of grace in the plan of God. The first category is eternal salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). This grace requires a response from man before it goes into effect — non-meritorious positive volition: faith in Christ (Acts 16:31). The second and third categories of grace are in the Christian life. The second is God’s preservation of the believer (1 Pet. 1:5). I call this “logistical grace.” This grace does not depend on human volition. The third category is “greater grace” (James 4:6), or “supergrace.” It does require positive volition. Under supergrace, God provides wealth, success, prosperity, right man or right woman every kind of blessing associated with happiness. But these are blessings only for those with supergrace capacity. This capacity of soul comes from learning and understanding Bible doctrine; capacity is a cup into which God can pour.

The fourth category is surpassing grace (Eph. 2:7) the blessings provided by God in eternity (John 1:1-2; Rev. 21:4). The positive volition required to receive these maximum eternal blessings comes not in eternity but in time. These blessings will reward the supergrace believer forever for the level of spiritual maturity he attained in his Christian life on earth through learning Bible doctrine. We are totally graced out by being related to the Trinity forever and by being blessed in the devil’s world. As the ruler of this world, Satan has systems of promotion, ethics, do-goodism, and prosperity; but God provides blessings for us completely independent of Satan. These blessings are permanent and far more wonderful than anything the devil can provide. This is part of the victory in the angelic conflict.

God cannot contradict His own essence; He therefore plans the best for the believer. But in doing so, no decree from God opposes human free will; indeed, the decrees establish free will as something that actually exists. You see, we are so dependent on God that nothing we are or do would even exist unless He decreed it to exist. God is perfect. His plan and provision are perfect. He has provided salvation through the cross and supergrace blessings through learning the Word of God. These wonderful things must be received by our free choice: for salvation, one instantaneous choice; for supergrace, many choices over a long period to take in doctrine every day. Although our volition is free, God alone decided what would be the nature of His creation. We can make any choices we like, but to have salvation and the inner happiness which is part of supergrace, we must conform our volition to His design. Negative volition toward doctrine can bring only misery to the believer.

Grace is multiplied in the work of the Trinity. God has a norm and standard for His plan: His own essence. Grace depends on the character of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[Elect] according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. (1 Pet. 1:2)

God’s foreknowledge makes nothing certain but merely perceives what is certain. Nothing could be foreknown until first decreed (Acts 2:23; Rom. 8:29). Thus, the foreknowledge of God comes after His decrees have established what the facts would be. Election, too, comes after the decrees. In other words, God did not make our decisions for us and program us to think and act in a certain way. From God’s point of view in eternity past, our free choice to believe in Christ came before God chose (or elected) us to become members of His family.

Foreknowledge knows only facts; election is based on facts. Omniscience, however, knows everything, including all the alternatives that will never come to pass. The decrees are based on omniscience, not on foreknowledge. Along with the possible alternatives, the decisions we would actually make are known to God’s omniscience, and based on that knowledge, He decreed them to be the actuality. He also knew what all our problems would be and decreed perfect provision for them in eternity past. All these marvelous provisions are involved in what the Bible means when it says that believers are foreknown. These things are reality.

None of us were there to help God. Grace is multiplied to us through the plan of God the Father. There is no way we can say we helped with the plan. In order for us to link up with the things provided for us, we have a second provision: “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the means of setting us apart in the plan of God first, through the baptism of the Spirit, which puts us in union with Jesus Christ; and second, through the sanctification or control of the Spirit, which keeps us within the framework of the plan of God. Since the plan of God is perfect, it does not call for us to sin. Therefore, when we do sin, God has provided rebound (1 John 1:9) to bring us back into fellowship with Him and to restore the filling of the Spirit.

The entire plan of God was made possible for us because Jesus Christ was obedient to the plan — the cross. Anticipating the cross, the Levitical priests sprinkled the blood of offerings to portray a positive attitude toward Christ. The blood refers to the work of Christ on the cross — the principle of judgment. Christ did all the work of salvation; the Holy Spirit operates in the life of the believer to perform the Christian way of life (John 16:13-14; 1 Cor. 2:10).

THE TRINITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Beginning in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis and going through the Book of Revelation, we see unmistakable evidence of the plurality of God. The very first verse in the Bible contains an intimation of a plurality of persons in the Godhead with the use of the plural Hebrew word Elohim: “In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Elohim refers to the essence of the Godhead rather than to the individual members of the Trinity, and here it indicates that all three had a part in creation: the Father planned it; the Son executed it; and the Holy Spirit restored it.

A second inference to plurality is the Hebrew tetragrammaton JHWH. This is an interesting form of the verb “to be” and actually means “I am that I am,” or absolute existence. It is translated Jehovah and sometimes refers to all the members of the Godhead (Num. 6:24-27) and sometimes to a specific Person, the context indicating which. The King James Version is helpful in this respect in the Old Testament. When you find the word LORD, it refers to the tetragrammaton; God refers to

Elohim.

In Psalm 2, Jehovah (the Father) said, “I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain . . . Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee” (Ps. 2:6-7). In Isaiah 11:2, the “spirit of Jehovah” refers, of course, to the Holy Spirit.

A third allusion to the plurality of the Godhead is in the use of the pronoun “us.” ‘Then God [Elohim] said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image . . .’ “ (Gen. 1:26). Here we have a reference to the divine decrees. Other instances of the Godhead speaking to each other are found in Genesis 3:22; 11:7; and Isaiah 6:8.

A fourth implication of the Trinity is in the repetition of the worship accorded the Lord by angels: “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy [the Father], Holy [the Son], Holy [the Holy Spirit], is the Lord of hosts . . .’ “ (Isa. 6:3; cf. Rev. 4:8). There are also three distinct individuals indicated in 2 Samuel 23:1-3; Isaiah 48:16; 63:7-10.

We must remember that the revelation of God was progressive throughout human history. With the Satanic infiltration of idolatry and the worship of many gods, Israel’s function was to emphasize the oneness of God. But believing Jews were to understand and recognize the existence of the Trinity. Thus gradually, but clearly, the triune mode of the existence of God was revealed. But it remained for the doctrine of the Trinity to be fully disclosed after the Incarnation and the completion of the canon of Scripture.

The fact that the name Jesus Christ does not appear in the Old Testament causes many people to think He did not exist at that time, and they reject the Trinity on this basis. Our language barrier is often the source of confusion. Jesus is the Greek word for “Savior,” but it has been transliterated from the Hebrew word Joshua. Christ means “Anointed One” in the Greek and is derived from the Hebrew word Messiah (Dan. 9:25; John 1:41). It was very important that the Second Person of the Trinity be known and understood so that He would be recognized when in the fullness of time He was revealed in the flesh (Gal. 4:4).

Jesus Christ as Jehovah is found in such passages as Exodus 3:14 (cf. John 8:58); Psalm 10:16 (cf. Rev. 11:15); Isaiah 40:3 (cf. John 1:23); Zechariah 14:1-3 (cf. Rev. 19:11). He is also revealed as the Angel of Jehovah in many passages (Gen. 16:7-13; 22:11-18; Ex. 3:2-4; 13:21; 14:19; Judg.

6:11-23; 13:9-20).

Jesus Christ talked with Adam and Eve every day in the Garden (Gen. 3:8). He is the One who spoke with Abraham in his tent (Gen. 18) and to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3). Jesus Christ was the One who wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 32:24-30). He was the “Shekinah Glory,” or the cloud in which Jehovah appeared above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:22; Lev. 16:2). All these theophanies of the Old Testament were pre-incarnate appearances of Christ.

THE TRINITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE TITLES OF GOD

The very fact that we find different names of the persons of the Godhead all through the New Testament immediately reveals a triune distinction. But more than that, the New Testament states the complete designation of the Godhead as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)

Notice, this says in the name (not names) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, indicating the unity which subsists in the Trinity. It is interesting that the Trinity was manifested at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth at His baptism, as the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and the voice of the Father spoke from heaven (Matt. 3:16-17); and it is again mentioned specifically at the close of His ministry in the Great Commission.

In the doctrine of procession we see the titles of the Godhead: the Father sent the Son (John 17:3; Gal. 4:4); the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The threefold title of God is also stated in relation to the ministry of each one to the believer in the Christian way of life in Romans 5:5-6; 15:30; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; and Ephesians 1:17. The Holy Spirit is said to be “God” in Acts 5:3-9; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; and He is called “Lord” in

2 Corinthians 3:17. Lord (Kurios) is used in the New Testament for each of the three members of the Trinity.

THE WORKS OF GOD

The works of God are ascribed to each person of the Trinity not in a combined effort, but separately and distinctly from the others. The persons of the Godhead maintain a distinction one from the other in Their function; yet in some unfathomable way, each is said to have a part in all Their works.

In addition to creation, each of the three Persons had a part in the incarnation of Christ: the Father sent the Son (John 3:16); the Holy Spirit generated the Son (Luke 1:35); and the Son was born (Luke 2:11). All Three had roles in the ministry of Christ on earth: the Son always did the will of the Father (John 8:29; Heb. 10:9), and the Holy Spirit sustained Christ’s ministry (Matt. 12:18, 28; Luke 4:1, 14, 18; John 3:34).

Of the death of Christ, the Scriptures state, “He [the Father] who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all . . .” (Rom. 8:32). “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative . . .” (John 10:18), “ .. . who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God ...” (Heb. 9:14).

All three are said to have parts in the resurrection of Christ: The Father (Acts 2:24; Col. 2:12); the Son (John 2:19; 10:18); the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18). They are further said to have a part in the resurrection of mankind (John 5:21; Rom. 8:11).

The indwelling presence, in the sense of positional truth, is indicated of all Three (John 14:23; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:27). These are by no means all the examples which could be cited, but they should suffice to give you an idea of the vital unity yet complete distinction of the members of the Trinity.

THE DEITY OF CHRIST

In every mention of the Son in connection with the Trinity, He occupies a place of absolute equality with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Son is called “God” in John 1:1, “God my Savior” in Luke 1:47, “God blessed” in Romans 9:5, the “great God” in Titus 2:13, the “true God” in 1 John 5:20, and “Almighty” in Revelation 1:8. The Son receives the same honor as the Father (John 5:23; Rev. 5:12-13), the same worship (Heb. 1:6; Rev. 19:10), and the same glory (Matt. 16:27; John 17:24). In spite of the limitations of His humanity and the great humility of His Incarnation, Christ always was, is, and will be God, the Second Person of the Trinity. His humanity in no way restricted His deity or His equality with the Father and the Spirit.

Christ is the only visible member of the Godhead (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; 1 John 4:12). He is the “image of the invisible God” in Colossians 1:15. He is stated to be the Creator in John 1:3, 10; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; and Hebrews 1:10; and in Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3, to hold the universe together. All the fullness of God is said to dwell in Him in Colossians 1:19; 2:9.

The preexistence of Christ is both implied and directly stated in the New Testament. His own statements that He is from above (John 8:23), that He descended out of heaven (John 3:13), that He is not of this world (John 17:14), and that He was sent into the world (John 17:18) imply deity. Other implications to His preexistence are found in such passages as John 1:15, 18; 3:17, 31; 7:29; 14:7, 9, II; Acts 10:36. Direct assertions are found in John 1:1, 14; 10:28-30; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:10; Revelation 1, and many other passages.

In John 10:24, the unbelieving Jews had gathered around Jesus and asked, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” If He should admit plainly that He is God, they will use it as a testimony to condemn Him. He knew that these Jews had no intention of believing in Him, for they had already rejected the testimony of His works (John

10:25); nevertheless He answered them plainly in John 10:28-30.

And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:28)

Why does Jesus Christ say here that He gives eternal life, rather than the Father who is the author of the plan? The key is found in the first two words of John 10:27 — “My sheep.” The first thing that believers need to realize after salvation is that they have security in the plan of God. The greater our knowledge of Bible doctrine, the greater our orientation to the plan of God. Security is related to the Trinity and is based on Their perfect divine essence. God gives with no strings attached; He gives on the basis of the work of the Son on the cross. Jesus Christ is speaking here as the God-Man. Therefore, He has every right to say, “I give.” Eternal life is given to all who believe in Him — not just at the moment they believe — but, based on His omniscience, from eternity past.

Eternal life means more than life in the eternal future; it also means security in time. No one — neither angel, human being, animal, nor any combined power, not even God himself — has the ability or power to remove the believer from the hand of God, that is, from His eternal plan. God’s “hand” is an anthropomorphism (ascribing to God a human characteristic) to indicate protection. We are under the protection of the Trinity all the way through our lives on earth. Furthermore, God will

provide everything we need and give our lives meaning and purpose in times of prosperity as well as in times of adversity.

Jesus states a twofold purpose in this passage: to prove the security of the sheep and to establish the deity of both Himself and the Father. He ascribes the same attributes to Himself as to the Father so that while He is on the cross, believers will not be upset. His deity will not die, and both He and the Father will continue to uphold them with Their “hand.”

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:29)

In declaring the Father to be greater, Jesus is speaking from His humanity. In His deity, He is coequal and coeternal. “Greater” (meizon) is a comparative adverb meaning “greater in degree.” This is simply saying that God the Father, as the author of the divine plan, gives a security which depends entirely upon the Godhead. Under grace everything depends on who and what God is. Because the Father is greater than anyone or anything, we have a perfect security. We have a perfect relationship with the eternal Godhead. God loves each believer with a maximum love, a love which will never vary and never change because it depends on His character. When the Father gave us as a gift to the Son, He also qualified us to represent His Son in the angelic conflict.

In John 10:30, Jesus, speaking from the standpoint of His deity, puts it all together and says, “I and the Father are one.” “One” is in the neuter gender and refers to essence rather than personality. As we have seen. They are not one person, but one essence. The Jews understood that without equivocation Jesus was declaring His deity. In their eyes. He had blasphemed and thus condemned Himself. But even as they attempted to stone Him for making Himself God, Jesus escaped out of their hands (John 10:31-39).

Jesus Christ became, through the virgin birth, the unique person of the universe. He is different from God in that He is true humanity; He is different from true humanity in that He is also God. He became true humanity, according to the plan of the Father, so that He could be judged for the sins of the world and provide eternal salvation. Your attitude toward Him determines your eternal destiny:

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)

Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, no one could be saved. “ . . . A natural [unsaved] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). If the Jewish religious leaders had desired to know the truth, they would have understood through the ministry of the Spirit who Jesus Christ was, and “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

CONCLUSION

All three members of the Trinity indwell the body of the Church Age believer. The Father’s indwelling glorifies His plan and assures His personal ministry to every believer (John 14:23; Eph. 4:6; 2 John 9). The Son indwells as the revealed member of the Godhead whose character and glory are manifest in the believer’s life as his soul fills with Bible doctrine (John 14:20; 17:22-23, 26; Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; 1 John 2:23-24). The Holy Spirit indwells to make the believer’s body a temple worthy of Christ’s indwelling presence and to empower the believer in learning Bible doctrine and living the Christian way of life (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:16).

All Church Age believers have this intimate relationship with God and have the potential for a life far better than they can imagine (Eph. 3:20). Whether or not they actually attain this “supergrace” life depends on their response to Bible doctrine. In fact, the Bible is called the word of the Father (Heb. 4:12), the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), and the voice of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Heb. 3:7).

The doctrines of the Trinity and of divine essence have tremendous and far-reaching implications. Through them we are afforded an insight into the infinite being of God. At the same time we become increasingly aware that we have a God who, though He transcends far above us, dwells in us and imparts to us something of Himself and His holy character.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)